Jammu: People of a Kerni village in Jammu have been having a harrowing time for the past one decade as they have to vacate their homes during the night. A routine, the villagers want an end to.
"Please throw me back in my house, whether I live or die, I can't walk anymore. Due to continuous walking, a portion of my body has got paralysis," says Ghulam Hussain, a resident of Kerni village in Jammu.
It's a daily ordeal for 75 year-old Ghulam Hussain. He is among the 1,000 villagers of Kerni village who have to trek 12 kilometres up and down on mountainous terrain every day.
The reason: they have to leave their homes at dusk since the village is out of bounds at night.
Eight years ago, at the peak of Indo-Pak hostilities, the Army asked the villagers to vacate Kerni. They were given plots elsewhere, but the villagers were allowed to work on their fields and to tend to their livestock in the day. A decade on, the rule remains in place and there are no concessions.
"We are farmers, we have to go to collect fodder. We are facing lots of problems," said Fatima Bi, resident, Kerni village.
And that's not all, a border fence meant to check infiltration has brought its own troubles.
"People are not ready to marry off their daughters and sons to the Kerni village on the other side of the fence," said Maulana Ghulam Qadir, resident.
The local administration says it favours rehabilitating the people back in their village and is now taking up the matter with the Army.
"The people of the village have a lot of problems. We are taking up the matter with the military and requesting them that the villagers must be allowed to live in their villages," said Kuldeep Khajuria, DC, Poonch.
People of Kerni village are looking forward to that day when they have will have the freedom to go to their village without any hindrance, and that will perhaps be the most important day for them.